Where rain comes from
The short answer
Evaporation, condensation, rain and rivers: how the same water travels from the sea to the clouds and back again.
0:28ScienceBeginnerwater cycleweatherevaporation
Chapters and transcript
- 0:00
The Sun warms the sea
Some of the water evaporates into invisible water vapour and rises.
- 0:07
Higher up, vapour cools into clouds
The air is colder higher up, so the vapour condenses into tiny water droplets. Together they form clouds.
- 0:14
Droplets join, then fall
When droplets join and grow heavy, they fall as rain, or as snow where it is cold enough, such as on high peaks.
- 0:21
Rivers carry it back to the sea
Rain and melted snow run into rivers that flow back to the sea. Then the Sun warms the sea again, and the cycle repeats.